Tuesday, February 19, 2008

How not to attract fans

Something that has always struck me as strange is why the CCA doesn’t better plan out its draws at both the men’s and women’s championships. By this I mean schedule the marquee games at better times.

Right now, the draw is done long before the provincial champions are determined and the winners get slotted in where their province’s holding pieces are. The result, time and time again, is that big match-ups are often held at the worst times. For instance, yesterday morning, Sherry Middaugh of Ontario takes on Jennifer Jones from Manitoba. Two big names. Two teams that love to mix it up. Two teams who could draw a big crowd.

And yet there they were, knocking heads on a Monday morning at 9:30. Unless you wanted to watch on your computer, you were out of luck. Not even any radio. Oh where’s Chuck Pachekowsky when you need him?

I can remember the same thing happening at a Brier a couple of years ago when one of the morning draws was Kevin Martin and Wayne Middaugh, when they were arguably the best two rinks in the game.

All of this comes at a time when big curling events can use walk-up sales. So why not strategically plan out your big games so they’re held at the times that will do that? Even though they said it was done randomly, for years the Ontario Curling Association had the Werenich-Howard tilt on Thursday night. Bingo – full arena. Have that game Monday morning and you have the bus from the retirement home.

Now to be fair, what constitutes a marquee game is subjective. And in an event such as this year’s Scotties, there are a lot of marquee matches. But it’s about time the CCA got into the new millenium and began planning this better. This is entertainment and right now, a lot of people are missing the most entertaining parts.